It hasn't even been around a year, but Brooklyn's Barclays Center is already one of the top-grossing entertainment venues in the world. Photo: WireImage

Brooklyn is the new Manhattan. Sort of.

The Borough of Kings is closing the rent gap with Manhattan thanks to soaring prices in luxury buildings that are driving up the market in its more trendy neighborhoods.

The highly sought-after borough, home to the new Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets, saw its average rent climb to $3,035 in July, a hefty 8.2 percent jump from July 2012, according to a report from real estate group Douglas Elliman. The average rent in Manhattan was $3,822 in July, up just 1.7 percent.

Driving the surge was growing demand in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, fabulous news for Brooklyn’s status-symbol crowd, but not so much for residents looking for affordable places to live.

Actor Jim Callahan, whose wife is pregnant, said he’s concerned about the cost of a bigger apartment for his family.

“It is a great area and we feel very fortunate to live here,” said Callahan, 33, of Cobble Hill. “But as far as the long run goes, it’s getting more and more unrealistic. We just have to kind of shove a baby in there somewhere.

“Even a block over, anything under $3000 is unheard of.”

“I couldn’t find a studio for less than $1,300,” said Paige Hexton, 23, who pays $975 a month to live with three roommates in Cobble Hill.

Yuval Greenblatt, Douglas Elliman’s director of sales, said Brooklyn used to be a renter’s second choice.

“Now it’s a primary option,” Greenblatt said. “There’s a different lifestyle. Manhattan is congested. Manhattan has traffic. Brooklyn is a low-rise community.”

Manhattan rents have been on the rise for two years without a break, but the rate of growth has been slowing, as landlords and tenants are more likely to agree on lease renewals.

Rents in Brooklyn are rising because of demand from those priced out of Manhattan, and would-be buyers who don’t qualify for purchases with today’s tight lending standards.

Lesley Kunikis, 41, a graphic designer who lives in a one-bedroom apartment on Cheever Place in Cobble Hill, said her rent has doubled to $1,800 since she moved in.